


Finally Home

by adampascalfan



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5444444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adampascalfan/pseuds/adampascalfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of everything a person can find in Whole Foods, Blaine certainly didn't expect to find a missing  member of his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finally Home

“Hi. I’m here to pick up an order for Anderson?” Blaine asked with a smile when he finally made it up to the pick up counter at the Whole Foods that was around the corner from his recording studio.  The session had run late and there had been a ridiculous line even by New York standards by the time he had gotten to the store.  At this point he was going to be late and everyone coming to the pot luck would be there by the time he got home.  There was going to be no way to pretend the platter of grilled salmon was homemade.

It really was a good thing that at this point, their friends were just coming over to see the baby and not them.  Mercedes had told him as much when he called her to coordinate on the menu for the potluck.  “Honey we’re all going to be competing for best aunt and uncle too much to even think about eating.”

The lovely college age girl behind the counter flashed him a smile before she pushed some buttons on her register screen.  “Yes.  It’s just in the back. It will be just a second” She looked up and waved to someone just behind his right shoulder.  “Marley! Thanks for covering for me tomorrow! I owe you!  Your next open mic, I got you.”

“It’s fine. I need the money.”

Blaine turned around quickly as he recognized the voice. It couldn’t be.  He had not spent the past five years with Sam and Kitty trying to find her only to run into Marley in the middle of a Whole Foods.  

The hair was a little shorter and lighter than he remembered.  And he didn’t remember her ever carrying a guitar on her back.  But it was the same smile he had captured in countless pictures on his phone and Facebook page.  

“Marley? Marley Rose?”

Her eyes met his, vague recognition and confusion on her face.  He quickly used his hands to flatten his hair down so it somewhat resembled his high school style.  The woman behind him in line with a two year old attached to her leg gave him an epic side eye before shrugging and returning to the text she was writing. Marley blinked at him for a few seconds before her eyes widened.

“Blaine?”  She took a half step towards him.  “Blaine?”

Blaine nodded as a smile broke out on Marley’s face.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw his order come out from the back and held up a finger. “Don’t…. **don’t** go anywhere.  I’ll be just one second.”

Turning quickly he managed to pay for the platter with as little trouble as possible.  Taking his purchase in hand, he attempted to juggle the platter out of the way to hug Marley properly.  She started to giggle as he had to switch the platter at least three times before he just gave up and settled for wrapping his arm around her side and quickly squeezing her.

“I should have thought this through a little more.” Blaine smiled bashfully as Marley led them away from the crowded deli counter and towards a quieter corner of the store.  “God it’s so good to see you.  We’ve been looking for you for so long. There’s a million questions I want to ask.  God.  How are you?  How long have you been here?”

“I’m fine.  I haven’t been here long. I’ve only been here a couple of months. We?  Who’s we?”

“We?”  Blaine shook his head as he heard his phone chime with the sound of an incoming text. It was probably Kurt wondering where he was.  “Oh Sam, Kitty and I.  Unique.  Jake and Ryder when they can. We’ve all been looking for you since well Sue did what she did.”

Marley chewed on her lower lip and looked down at her scuffed sneakers.  “Yeah that was a long time ago.” Her eyes spotted his wedding ring.  Pointing to it, she smiled.  “So I see you got married.  I hope it was to Kurt because otherwise my follow up questions will be really awkward.”

“Yes I married Kurt. About five years now.” He shook his head.  “But I want to talk about you.  What happened to you?  How are you? What are you doing now?”

“All short stories there.” Marley laughed as Blaine’s phone chimed again.  “And it sounds like I’m keeping you from something.” She pointed to the platter still in his arms.  “A party maybe?”

“No it’s not even a full group for us with Rachel and Jesse out of town. And they’ll be too busy playing with Tracy to notice I’m late.”  He managed to grab one of her hands.  “You should come with me.  Sam’s visiting because Mercedes is in town. Artie and Tina just got back from some film festival.  Kitty of course.”

“Blaine I have seen or talked to any of them in seven years.  They won’t want to see me.”

“Trust me. They do.  And even if they didn’t I want you to.  I’ve missed you and I’m not settling for five minutes in Whole Foods.”

She covered her face with her hands, a move he remembered her doing whenever she couldn’t believe something was actually happening.  He could see her considering his invitation with nervous energy.  “Ok fine I’ll come but one condition.”

“Name it.”

“Who’s Tracy?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

His husband was a dead man, Kurt decided. Whenever he got home, Blaine was dead.  It was one thing to get caught up in the creative process and forget about time. Kurt could appreciate that.  It was an entire other thing to get caught up in the creative process and expose the fact they had been serving store bought food to their friends since Tracy had been born.

“You do realize I figured out the Whole Foods thing months ago right?” Kitty asked dryly as she took a sip from her wine glass.  “You’re not that good of an actor.”

“Just for that you are no longer in the running for Tracy’s favorite aunt.”

Kitty shrugged unconcerned.  “Please. We all know I’m the one she’s going to call for bail money and who she’s going to run to when she realizes everyone in her family should be locked away for public safety.”

“She’s right.” Artie agreed as he pushed himself past them both and into the kitchen.  “And I think we can all agree it’s better her than Santana.”

“Listen to my second favorite ex boyfriend.”

“Hey! I thought we agreed I was number one.”

“No you agreed. I always said that was Jake.”

“Damn his abs.”

“They are really great abs.” Tina sighed from her spot on the floor next to Mercedes as they both played with Tracy’s toes.  Sam pouted at her comment causing Mercedes to laugh and pat his knee.

“Your abs are still great too honey.”

The sound of the door opening stopped Sam’s pouting.  “Dude!  You were so wrong. Tracy thinks my Robert Downey Jr impression is perfect.”

“I’m sorry I’m late everyone but I’m positive when you see why you’ll understand.”  Turning slightly, Kurt was expecting to see Blaine standing there with an entire catered dinner that the deli staff just “happened” to give him.  (Along with the counter girl’s phone number scribbled on the receipt as Kurt remembered clearly) but he wasn’t expecting to see a girl standing there radiating nervous energy.  He felt his brow furrow as he tried to figure out where he knew her from but came up with nothing when he tried to tie her to a specific place.

It was Kitty who figured it out first.  Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt saw her take a step back as shock filled her face.  “Marley?”

As soon as Kitty said her name, the memories came back to Kurt. The quiet sophomore with the bright smile and fondness for hats who agreed to sing back up for him just because Blaine asked her to.  The one exiled New Directions member who no one could find, not even for the re-dedication ceremony for the auditorium last month.  After the last song had been sung, the group had begun to sub-divide into the groups that had actually sung together.  Kitty, Unique, Ryder and Jake had kept looking over the assembled group as if hoping she had snuck in at the end of their performance and they had all just missed it.  

Tina was the first to react, her natural over-enthusiasm leading the way.  She jumped up from the floor (thankfully Mercedes had a firm grip on Tracy) and tackled Marley, nearly sending the girl back into the door Blaine had closed behind them.  “Oh my God! Marley!  Where have you been?  What do you have against Facebook?”  

Grabbing Marley by the hand, Tina pulled her into the living room.  “So you see Tina’s the same as always.” Artie said dryly as he stopped himself in front of the two of them and opened up his arms.  “Come on woman. Show me the love.”

A strangled giggle escaped Marley as she leaned down to comply with Artie’s request.  “Hi Artie.”  Breaking from Artie’s embrace and found herself face to face with Sam coming in to hug her.  “Oh. Hi Sam.”    She offered a small wave to Tina as Sam attempted to smother her with his arms.  “Tina.”

Kurt moved to remove Tracy from Mercedes’ arms and offered a small wave of welcome.  This wasn’t his reunion but he knew all about the attempts to find her over the years.

“Girl you better have a good reason for why you stopped sending me your songs.” Mercedes demanded before hugging her.  “I had plans for us to take over the music industry together.”

“You seemed to be doing just fine without my help.” Marley pointed out before looking towards the kitchen where Kitty stood, rooted to the spot.  “Kitty.”

“So you didn’t die.  That’s good at least.” Kitty shook her head.  “What did you just decide to hate us?  I mean, me, I get and Jake and Ryder were being idiots but Unique? Everyone else?  You just disappeared.”

Kurt put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed in a gesture of comfort. Kitty had grown up a lot since McKinley but she still tried to keep from being hurt by pushing people away first.  Marley took a deep breath as if she had been expecting something like this.  

“I didn’t want to. I had to. Sort of.”

“What your mother needed to join Witness protection?  Did she witness some food related homicide?” Kitty pointed her finger at Artie.  “That is not an idea you are stealing for a script.”

Artie crossed his hands over his chest and grimaced, a clear indication he had been thinking of doing exactly that.  “It wasn’t that great of an idea anyway.”

“Please. We all know who’s going to get you your Oscar and it’s not Tina.”

“Kitty.” Marley took a step closer to her. “When Sue kicked us out, my mom lost her job.  We couldn’t pay the rent and we lost our house.  We stayed on a lot of couches and eventually in a shelter in Dayton.  I didn’t know what to tell you guys or how.”  

Kurt had learned to never underestimate the lows Sue Sylvester would sink to in her quest to win, but this was something he hadn’t expected.  She actually caused a family to become homeless just to win an argument with Will Schuester.  As Sam moved closer to offer Marley a hug, Blaine and Tina exchanged guilty glances.  One look at Artie and Kurt knew he was planning an attack ad for what the all assumed was Sue’s inevitable run for the presidency.  

Marley shook her hand out after Sam released her.  “My grandma eventually found out and moved us to Michigan.  By the time I was able to tell people where I was, you had deleted your Facebook. Jake is never on it.  Ryder never really got back into it after the whole catfishing. And everyone else was in college and living these great lives where I didn’t fit.  So I didn’t tell anyone.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt could see Kitty working through this new information.  He remembered how long it had taken for her to repair her friendships with Jake, Ryder and Unique after only a few months of separation.  But the years of silence from Marley, even if it was understandable, that wasn’t going to just disappear.  Even though one glance at the hopeful look on Blaine made it clear at least his husband thought it was possible.

Tina elected to ignore the silence that had fallen over the group, pulling Marley closer to her.  “Look I remember telling you this back in the choir room.  Once you are a part of New Directions you are always a part of us.”

“Didn’t you follow that up with a warning that none of them were ever going to be a part of New Directions so just get used to being in the background?”  Artie wondered.  Mercedes and Sam covered their laughs as Tina fixed her best glare at Artie.

“Didn’t you go to film school? How do you have no sense of timing?”  Tina threw her hand in the air in frustration before turning her attention back to Marley.  “My point before _someone_ ruined it, is that of course you fit.”

“Besides you don’t even have the record for longest vanishing act.” Artie pointed out.  “Matt was gone for nine years and we still talk to him.”

“Yes that’s the way to make her feel like she’s welcome.” Mercedes rolled her eyes at Artie as Kurt adjusted Tracy on his hip. “Talk about someone she’s never met.  Marley sweetie you’ll find the people who have sense are on this side of the apartment.” She gestured between herself, Sam and Blaine.

“Hey!” Kurt protested throwing a kitchen towel in her direction.

“Those who thought for a second any of us were fooled by Whole Foods all this time do not have sense.”

“Come talk to me when you and Sam start procreating and we’ll talk about what makes sense.” Kurt smirked into his wine glass as Blaine tried to hide his laughter by getting the tray of food ready to serve.  Sam turned a lovely shade of red Kurt honestly hadn’t realized could be found in nature while he could see Mercedes starting to plan revenge.  

“And on that note, I think it’s time to eat.” Blaine said with a smile.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~**~*~*~*~*~

One bottle of wine with dinner became two and was on its way to rapidly becoming three.  The very real threat of drunken karaoke was in the air.  Kitty had taken Tracy from Sam’s arms, with the excuse that it was her bedtime.  And it was her duty as the sane aunt to prevent all possible emotional trauma.  With this group it was only a matter of time before some attempted to sing _The Circle of Life_ with Tracy as Simba only to drop her.    _Again._

Sam stopped arguing with her after that.

As she pushed to door closed behind her with foot, Kitty could admit at least to herself that putting Tracy to bed also gave her a little breathing room from the whole Marley situation.  Tina, like the gossip monger that she was, had barely let anyone else talk the entire night.  She really wasn’t going to be surprised if she logged into Tina’s Twitter to find a live tweet of the entire evening.  After all Tina was probably going to use Marley’s experience with being homeless to justify why she was perfect for the role of a homeless person interviewed by Ice T on SVU or something.  

Homeless.  Kitty shook her head as she wrestled Tracy into her sleeper.  She should have realized that was a possibility when Sue kicked everyone out of McKinley.  She remembered the shopping trips where Marley wouldn’t actually buy anything and Unique would buy a top Marley had been eying “in the wrong size”.  There had been meetings before the trip to Nationals on how to keep Jake, Sam and Marley from realizing they weren’t paying the same amount for the trip as everyone else.  

Of course that was what had happened.  She had been so angry at being left behind the most obvious answer in the world completely escaped her.  “Kiddo” she said to the squirming infant in her arms, “let the record show sometimes your Aunt Kitty is an idiot.  But you can’t tell anyone I told you that.”

“Does that go for me too?” Marley asked quietly from the doorway.  Kitty flinched at the voice, tightening her grip on Tracy to keep from dropping her.  

“Especially you.”  She managed to say as she put Tracy down in her crib.  She pointed her finger at the baby, who immediately grabbed it.  “You little princess.  It’s time for you to go to sleep.  I don’t want to hear the lecture years from now about how I ruined your life because you didn’t fall asleep tonight.  Because we both know your dads will figure out a way to blame me when we both know they are the crazy ones. But we’re going to keep them in line right princess?”

Tracy blew a spit bubble in response.  “I’m going take that as a yes.” Kitty smiled as she gently removed the tiny hand from her finger.  

Marley moved to stand next to her, looking over the rails of the crib as Tracy giggled.  “She likes you.”

“She can’t feed herself and finds Artie adorable.  Her taste is questionable.”

“You can’t fool me Kitty Wilde.  You adore her.  I know you.” Marley shrugged her shoulders.  “At least I think I still do.”

“A lot can change in seven years.” Kitty said evenly, trying to keep emotion out of her voice.

“Yeah.  But I think I can still tell when you’re hurt.”  Marley reached out to touch her arm, but Kitty took a step back to avoid her. “See?  You’ve barely talked to me.  You’re avoiding me. I told Blaine you didn’t want to see me.”  She dropped her arm awkwardly at her side.  “I’ll leave.  I’ll tell everyone I have to work in the morning.  I don’t want to ruin your night any more than I have.”  

She walked back to the door, stopping before opening it.  “I don’t know what it means to you, but I did miss you.  When we finally got settled, this cheerleader was making fun of  my mom.  Before I could stop myself, I was promising her I would put Nair in her shampoo if she didn’t stop.”

Kitty smiled, letting out a small laugh.  “One of my more effective threats.”

“Can I show you something?” Marley asked hesitantly, taking her phone out of her back pocket.  At Kitty’s small nod, she flipped the phone around to show her phone background.  Kitty stared in amazement as the picture of their entire team, celebrating their win at Regionals on stage filled her eyes.  Artie held the trophy in his lap and they all had nearly fell on top of him trying to get the picture taken.  

“I change it sometimes, but I always come back to this one.” Marley continued quietly.  “It was the first time I sang a song I wrote in front of people and we won.  You guys believed in my song and we won.   You’ll probably make fun of me for this but sometimes? Before I go out to an open mic?  I look at this to remind myself I can do this.”

She turned again to leave.  Marley made it to the door before Kitty found her voice to speak. “Don’t leave.  Everyone else would hate it if you left.  I don’t want you to leave.”

“Kitty this is the most we’ve talked in two hours.”

“I have issues with communicating.  I hide behind sarcasm and anger when I don’t know what to do.”  She shrugged her shoulders as Marley raised her eyebrow at her words. “Blaine has spent way too much time in therapy and sometimes fancy himself a therapist.  I  may make up stuff to horrify him into stopping when he tries it on me.”

“I won’t tell him you quote him to explain yourself.”

“Good. Because if you did our fledgling reunion would be over before it starts.”  Kitty smiled.  “I just…..I think we have a lot more to talk about.  And it would work better if Tina wasn’t live blogging the entire event.”

“My roommates are usually out or passed out. I’d say come to my place after but I don’t know where you live but I’m pretty sure Hell’s Kitchen is further than you want to go.”

“Wait. I’m sorry. You live in Hell’s Kitchen?  How does a Disney princess wind up there?”

“I found it on Craig’s List.  It was a step up from the Port Authority and all I could afford working part time at Whole Foods.”

“Ok. No. No.No. This isn’t going to work.  If we’re going to be friends again I can’t have you living in a place where your inevitable murder at the hands of your creepy Craig’s List roommate will eventually be written into the plot line of one of Sam’s comic book TV shows.”  She strode towards the door, grabbing Marley’s hand as she went.  Marley protested as she stopped in the middle of the living room, causing the rest of the group to look at the two of them.

“Blaine. Sam. Artie. You’re going to have to leave now and get Marley’s stuff from what I’m sure is her hellhole of a room in Hell’s Kitchen.  She is not staying there.”

“Are you on a block that Daredevil or Jessica Jones protects?” Sam asked seriously.

“Um? I don’t think so?”  Marley answered.  “Guys don’t listen to her.  It’s not that bad.”

“I’m sorry you’re working for what I assume is minimum wage part time at Whole Foods? It’s that bad.” Kitty disagreed.  “And literally no one in this room did the starving artist thing so I don’t see why you have to be the first.”

“And where exactly do you suggest I should live?”

“With me.” Kitty said with finality, ignoring the looks of confusion on everyone’s faces. They would roll with it. They always did.  “I have the space.  Tina and Artie are over almost every day.  Kurt and Blaine are close by.  When they are in town Mercedes and Sam stay around here.  And it’s where Jake, Ryder and Unique stay when they come to town.  Being near you has clearly affected my sap responses because I think it would be nice if all five of us stayed together when they come to see you.”

“Awww. Kitty. You do have a heart.” Tina teased.  

“You blog any word of that and I’m throwing your phone in the Hudson.  Again.”

“She does have freaky aim. I still think that’s your mutant power.” Sam grumbled as he stood up and went to grab his coat. Blaine shook his head and motioned for Artie to follow Sam.  Kitty smiled in triumph.  She knew they would eventually follow orders.

Marley looked over at the boys gathering their stuff and let out a sigh. “Guys.  Stop it. Where I live is fine.  I’m perfectly safe there.   Even if there are no superheros on my block Sam.”

“And if there is anything I remember from high school it’s that you are way too trusting. If there is anyone who would attract a serial murdering roommate from Craig’s List it’s you.”  Kitty paused to examine her nails.  “Besides I’m not going to Hell’s Kitchen and these guys have this weird rule that we have to rotate this shindig between everyone’s place.  Plus judging on where you work and where you live, there’s not a nearby Whole Foods so these two can fail at convincing us that they are cooking.  So they’ll keep making up excuses why we have to have pot luck here leading to bitterness and judgement eventually destroying the very fabric of our friendships.  So basically for the good of everyone you just need to go with this.”

Mercedes let out a low whistle. “Once again I’m telling you all. Limit her exposure to Rachel.”

“We could kill each other.” Marley countered.

“If you still have your stupid hat collection I’m sure I will kill you.”

“How about this?” Marley took a step  closer to her.  “I’ll spend tonight at your place if you come with me to see it’s not the hellhole you’re making it out to be.  Then we’ll talk.”

“Wait. I’m sorry.” Artie held up his hand.  “Did anyone else hear Marley Rose curse?  It’s like seeing Mickey Mouse take his head off at Disney World.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to go on with my life.”

“Fine but only if Kurt goes with us to judge the state of squalor I know you’re living in.  And his judgement is final.”

“Do I get a choice in this?” Kurt wondered.

“Speaking from experience, no. No you don’t.” Artie adjusted his glasses.  Blaine nodded in agreement.

“Fine. But you’ll see. It’s perfectly fine.”

“You sweet summer child.  You’ll be living with me in a week.” Kitty promised.

In the end it took two weeks to convince Marley to move in.  Another three weeks to convince her Kurt and Blaine’s job offer for her to be Tracy’s nanny wasn’t a charity offer.  But by the time Unique, Ryder and Jake showed up at the end of the month, it was almost as if she had never left the group in the first place.  That for the first time in seven years, Marley Rose was finally home.

****  
  



End file.
